Major & Minor Resource Plays

Canada

Duvernay: The Duvernay Shale is an emerging oil and liquids-rich formation in the Western Canada Sedimentary Basin that is thought to hold 443 Tcf of natural gas, 11.3 billion bbls of NGLs, and 61.7 billion bbls of oil... More

Eastern Canada: Alberta & British Columbia dominate oil & gas production in Canada, but the Eastern half of the country is not without its prospects, particularly on the unconventional front. More

Horn River: There doesn’t seem to be much question about the potential for natural gas out of the Horn River Basin, Liard Basin, and the Cordova Embayment in Northeast British Columbia. More

Montney: The Montney extends from British Columbia into Alberta, and is generally 1700-4000 meters deep. Estimates of gas in place range from 80 to 700 Tcf, according to the National Energy Board of Canada, but the formation is also prospective for oil. More

Gulf Coast

Barnett: The Barnett Shale is considered to be the "granddaddy" of all U.S. shale plays, as it was the formation in which Mitchell Energy & Development first successfully implemented the technology ... More

Eagle Ford: The Eagle Ford Shale, located in South Texas, may only have four years of production history, but it has quickly become one of the hottest resource plays in North America. More

Eaglebine: The Eaglebine is an emerging horizontal oil play in East Texas whose name is a hybrid of the Eagle Ford Shale and the Woodbine sandstone formation. More


Haynesville: The Haynesville Shale is a massive dry natural gas formation in Northwest Louisiana and East Texas that lies at true vertical depths between 10000’-14000’. More


Lower Smackover/Brown Dense: The Brown Dense is a potential crude oil play that is a member of the Lower Smackover formation, and is so named because it is a thick, muddy carbonate. More

Permian: What a difference higher crude oil prices can make. One of NGI’s analysts remembers an early 1999 business trip he took to the oil focused Permian Basin. More


Tuscaloosa Marine: Located along the Louisiana/Mississippi border, the TMS is very much in its early innings, and faces a significant amount of assessment drilling and development work in the months ahead. More

Mid-Continent

Arkoma-Woodford: The Arkoma-Woodford may have been one of the first unconventional plays to emerge in the United States, but a “first mover” advantage doesn’t always lead to longer-term success. More

Cana-Woodford: The Cana-Woodford (also known as the Anadarko-Woodford) is a liquids rich shale formation that is named after Canadian County, Oklahoma, although the formation underlies several counties in the western half of the state. More

Fayetteville: The Fayetteville Shale is a dry natural gas formation that is located on the Arkansas side of the Arkoma Basin. More


Granite Wash: According to the American Association of Petroleum Geologists, the Granite Wash (GW) is a liquids-rich tight sands play about 160 miles long and 30 miles wide, covering parts of Western Oklahoma and the Texas Panhandle. More

Mississippian Lime: One of the newer resource plays to emerge in the United States, the Mississippian Lime is a carbonate formation that primarily produces oil, and that underlies a large portion of Northern Oklahoma and Kansas. More

Oklahoma Liquids Plays: We believe the recent surge in Oklahoma crude oil production is being led by increased drilling in Oklahoma’s various resource plays, which include the Ardmore-Woodford, Cleveland/Tonkawa ... More

Northeast

Marcellus: The Marcellus Shale is one of the most prolific shale basins in North America, in terms of both acreage and reserve potential. Much of the industry activity to date has centered in Pennsylvania and West Virginia... More

Upper Devonian/Huron: The Upper Devonian Shale (UD), which lies just above the Marcellus Shale (the Marcellus is part of the Middle Devonian formation), has the potential to contribute meaningfully to ... More

Utica: The Utica Shale is a massive formation that lies beneath portions of Kentucky, Ohio, Maryland, New York, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, West Virginia, and Virginia. More

Rockies/West Coast

Bakken: The Bakken Shale and the underlying Three Forks formation are both part of the Williston Basin, which spans portions of North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana, Manitoba, and Saskatchewan. More

Green River: The Green River Basin (GRB) is actually a subset of what the United States Geological Survey calls the Greater Green River Basin, which also includes the Great Divide, Vermillion, and ... More

Monterey: The Monterey Shale, which is primarily a crude oil formation that is located in both onshore and offshore Southern California at depths between 8000’-14000’, has the potential to be massive. More

Niobrara/Denver-Julesburg: The Niobrara-DJ Basin is a crude oil and liquids rich gas play that is located in Northeast Colorado and Southeast Wyoming. More


Paradox: Located mostly in Southeastern Utah and Southwestern Colorado, the Paradox Basin has been traditionally known more for its conventional oil & gas production. More


Piceance: Located in Northwest Colorado, the Piceance (pronounced pee-aunts) Basin is a tight sands formation that lies at depths between 6000’-10000’, and features liquids rich natural gas. More

Powder River: Traditionally more known for its coal production, the Powder River Basin in Northeast Wyoming and Southeast Montana is making headlines today for its unconventional oil and gas potential. More

San Juan: The San Juan Basin, which is located primarily in Northwest New Mexico and extends into Southwest Colorado, is a hodgepodge of oil and natural gas production from both ... More

Uinta: Much like the Permian basin in West Texas, the Uinta Basin in Northeast Utah, which began producing natural gas and oil in commercial volumes in 1925 and 1949, respectively, has experienced a rebirth in recent years. More